Little-Known Facts About Gordon Ramsay
Behind the tough, grumpy exterior portrayed on food TV shows is a very different Gordon Ramsay…
To many viewers, Gordon Ramsay is a rude, aggressive chef – exactly the image he often portrays on food TV shows. However, behind that tough, straightforward exterior lies other personality traits of Gordon Ramsay that many people do not know.
Almost became a professional football player
Born in Scotland, Gordon Ramsay’s family moved to England when he was five years old. As a child, Gordon Ramsay dreamed and was determined to pursue a football career. At the age of 15, Ramsay joined Glasgow Rangers – a professional football club – so his family returned to Scotland to facilitate his pursuit of his dream. Ramsay played football for that club for three years, but then a knee injury ended his football dreams. After his football dreams ended, Ramsay decided to go into the hospitality business and earned a degree in the field in 1987. Gordon Ramsay shared: “To this day, I still love football. For me, cooking is like football, it’s not a job, it’s a passion. When you become good at something, it’s a dream job.”
Becoming a chef at 27
When he first entered the culinary world, Ramsay apprenticed under famous chefs: Marco Pierre White, Joel Robuchon and Guy Savoy. However, at the age of 27, Ramsay started his own career as a master chef. In 1993, he became head chef of the newly opened Aubergine restaurant in London. In just three years, Ramsay helped the restaurant win two Michelin stars and in 1995, he was named Newcomer of the Year at the prestigious Catey Awards. Currently, he owns 58 restaurants in many countries around the world such as: US, UK, China, Malaysia…
The world’s highest-paid chef
Ramsay was once the richest chef in the world, thanks in part to culinary TV shows Hell’s Kitchen, Kitchen Nightmares, MasterChef, Hotel Hell and Faking It. According to Forbes, Ramsay’s shows generate more than $150 million in advertising revenue for Fox each year. In 2021, Ramsay was second only to British TV chef Jamie Oliver in terms of wealth, according to Money Inc., although his restaurant empire filed for bankruptcy in May 2019.
A gift for languages
When Ramsay went to France to apprentice with one of the country’s most famous chefs, he didn’t speak a word of French. However, after a short time, just by learning vocabulary and sentence structures through menus and recipes, Ramsay quickly became fluent in French. Today, Ramsay can use French fluently. “If I need to, I can knock on doors to find menus for my menu collection. I currently have over 3,500 menus that I love to read. They are all arranged from A to Z in a file drawer at home, near my bed so I can read them at any time,” Ramsay shared.
Active in charity
Gordon, who has been married to Tana for 26 years, is a well-known philanthropist. The Gordon and Tana Ramsay Foundation supports the Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity to “give some of the sickest children the best chance of life”.
